“Brian Herlihy cannot contain his excitement. He’s the man behind the Seacom consortium, which is building the new US600m undersea telecommunications cable that will connect SA with East Africa, India and Europe.

“Bandwidth uptake could be higher than our original forecasts, which would mean an even earlier return on investment,” Herlihy says. “It’s difficult to forecast as demand is incredibly elastic.”

Telkom’s new rival, Neotel, will land the Seacom cable in SA. In Kenya and Tanzania, where Seacom doesn’t have to partner a licensed operator, it is landing the cable itself. In Mozambique, CapiTel is its partner. “…